Ziert Alert: Alicia, It's Not Your Fault

Alicia, it was not your fault that the American team "lost" the gold medal. Let's stop all this Karolyi insanity. Facts are facts and the meet was lost in Houston, Texas, with very poor administration by Marta Karolyi. She just didn't do her homework, and she alone should take the blame for not doing what she promised the American media.

I believe it's very important to establish a few things about these two teams. First, I do not think the U.S. team should count on outexecuting any Chinese team. The Chinese have a program that really emphasizes toe and foot point, stretched legs, excellent posture — you know the stuff that the first word in the name of our sport is all about. In general, the American program doesn't focus on these same basic elements of good execution to the same degree. The American motto here seems to be "non-deductible is enough." Therefore, one can only make a prediction based on the A-panel possibilities. And, here in Beijing it wasn't even close. If Jiang Yuyuan went for the Yurchenko 2½, the Chinese started the meet with a 2.0 advantage and if she went safe with the double, a 1.3 edge. Those are the facts, people — indisputable! That means when this competition began, the Chinese were in the position to win the gold by 1.3-2.0.

Since Deng Linlin did a Yurchenko double-full instead of a 2½ from Jiang, any educated person should then have expected the Chinese women to win by 1.3. That's one byproduct of this Code, and Marta Karolyi just didn't get it. She apparently bought into the chatter about how the Chinese always miss, how the Chinese can't handle the pressure, etc. Hence, she developed a team that had no chance to win unless the Chinese gave up the gold. I find that totally unacceptable. You train a team to win if you say they are going to win. You do not train a team to be solid so that when the best team makes mistakes, your team wins. That is not what sports are about, at least in my mind. Not a particularly good life lesson — "be prepared so when the person above you falters, you can move up."

Chellsie Memmel hugs Alicia Sacramone during the women's team final

Now to Alicia Sacramone. I can prove with simple arithmetic that she did not cost the American team a gold medal. First, let's assume that Alicia had done the same routines in finals as qualifying. Most would have been happy to see her perform routines of that quality. On beam, she scored 15.95 in prelims. With the fall in finals, she scored 15.1. That's a loss of .85. Now on floor she did have a few small problems in prelims, but she didn't fall; the score was 14.425. Her finals score was 14.125. That's -.3. So her total negative impact on the team's finals score was -1.15. When we adjust that to the final score, the Chinese still should have won by 1.325 if Alicia had hit both her beam and floor. Ironically, that's almost precisely the different in the A-panel scores.

Again, it was not your fault, Alicia. And if Marta Karolyi had any class at all, she would take the blame for this herself. She and others around her misled the press and public, and she needs to be held accountable. I, personally, am very happy for this talented group of young ladies who endured those training camps, the trials that weren't really trials and all the many other injustices to WIN the silver medal. Congratulations, ladies!

The U.S. men's team — The little team that could

What a remarkable and exciting competition, the men's team final! There should have been no question in anyone's mind who would win the gold and silver. In fact, only a major injury to one of the Chinese or Japanese gymnasts while competing could have changed that outcome. They delivered beautiful though not perfect routines, but they certainly impressed me with how easily both teams can handle this Code. I watched the routines of these brilliant athletes like I was at the theater. I could have cared less what scores the judges put up — I long ago lost faith in this group's ability to acknowledge and even possibly reward mastery. Watching the Chinese team holding hands while emotions of relief and joy covered their faces, stirred me very deeply. My huge congratulations to Golden China and Silver Japan. You are both great models for our sport!

So then let's get to the competition, and what a competition it was. With Russia, Germany, Korea and the USA so tightly packed together as far as A-Panel possibilities and quality of the top three in every event, I was sure it would come down to the "inner being" — those who wanted it most, heart — you know all the trite phrases. Well, this America team, none of whom have ever been on a stage this big, refused to be shaken. Some thought the order would do them in — starting with strong events and having to finish with horse, their weakest apparatus. Others thought that would be an advantage — get a big team score and then hope and pray for hit routines from Kevin Tan, Raj Bhavsar and Sasha Artemev, who, by the way, was not originally selected for the team because of this inconsistency on horse. Well, guess what, this team ignored everything but themselves, and with joy, passion and camaraderie produced a wonderful string of hit routines that impressed everyone. Working hard for every tenth and trying to stick every landing, this little team believed they could and did — the almost impossible. Putting pressure on Russia and Germany that resulted in costly mistakes and taking advantage of the stigma that Yang Tae-Young must have for Olympic competition (he virtually missed all five routines he attempted.), the Americans won outright the bronze medal.

As Bart Conner said when asked about the team bronze, "It's as good as gold!" and that it was. That was the only medal that the Americans could have won. The gold and silver medals would have needed to be given to them by flawed performances by the Japanese and/or Chinese. I hope the guys cherish the performances that they gave us; they were really special!

IG Publisher Paul Ziert coached Bart Conner to two gold medals at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and was the assistant coach for the U.S. women's team in 1980. He was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2006.